On 13 July 2026, the UK and Switzerland announced the conclusion of negotiations for an enhanced Free Trade Agreement (“FTA”) (see here and here). At the time of writing, the final treaty text has not yet been published, and the analysis below is based on the information released by the UK and Swiss Governments announcing the conclusion of negotiations. While the agreement covers a broad range of trade and economic issues and much of the…
Commission enacts first Implementing Regulation under the EU’s International Procurement Instrument – and the Chinese Government promptly retaliates For the first time, the European Commission completed an investigation under the International Procurement Instrument (IPI) and implemented measures to limit the participation of economic operators from non-EU countries – in this particular case, China – in the EU public procurement market. After EU suppliers of medical devices have arguably been denied fair access to Chinese government…
On 24 April 2024, the European Commission announced the launch of a formal investigation into the measures put in place and practices followed by China in its public procurement of medical devices. The announcement responds to the Commission’s belief that these measures and practices favour domestic Chinese suppliers whilst putting EU companies at a clear disadvantage. The investigation will be carried out under the EU’s International Procurement Instrument (IPI), a trade tool that aims to…
